… On Thursday February 4, Reuters reported that John Carlin, the Justice Department’s chief of national security, and federal prosecutors are looking for new tools to deal with the rise of “domestic extremists.” … Reuters notes that the U.S. government is facing an increase in opposition from militia groups, “sovereign citizens,” and other “anti-government extremists.” …

However, federal officials like Carlin claim they are impeded in their pursuit of violent domestic terrorists because, although there is currently a U.S. law that prohibits “material” support of internationally recognized terror groups, there is not such a law for domestic groups. …

(So Carlin is) looking for “potential legal improvements and enhancements to better combat those threats.” The Justice Department will identify cases being prosecuted at the state level that “could arguably meet the federal definition of domestic terrorism.”

(But) Reuters reports:

Carlin and other Justice Department officials declined to say if they would ask Congress for a comparable domestic extremist statute, or comment on what other changes they might pursue to toughen the fight against anti-government extremists.

… Carlin and his team are not only remaining quiet about whether or not they are pursuing the legal changes but the entire team has not been revealed to the public. … This means we have an unelected, secret team of people working on identifying which Americans should be deemed “domestic extremists.” …

(Perhaps, just maybe, and there is just an outside chance that) this could lead to stifling of free speech and expression. (Do you think?)

Part of the problem is the broad definition of “extremism” itself. …

First there was the MIAC report, which claimed that potential terrorists include people who own gold, Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, and even people who fly the U.S. flag.

Then in 2012, there was a leaked Homeland Security study that claimed Americans who are ‘reverent of individual liberty,’ and ‘suspicious of centralized federal authority’ are possible ‘extreme right-wing’ terrorists.

More recently, there is a Department of Defense training manual, obtained by Judicial Watch via a FOIA request, that lists people who embrace “individual liberties” and honor “states’ rights,” among other characteristics, as potential “extremists” who are likely to be members of “hate groups.” This document goes on to call the Founding Fathers extremists …

If the United States government cannot clearly define who it is targeting in its war on extremism how are the people supposed to trust that these programs will not simply be used to target outspoken activists and critics of the government?

A Domestic War on “Extremism”

These possible legal changes are only the latest effort to combat “extremism” by the Justice Department. …

If the American public will not be subdued and distracted by elections or deadstream media bread and circuses, the Ruling Class will have to resort to more direct methods of stifling freedom. …